This week the voters in the Associated Press Top 25 moved Baylor into the No. 3 spot ahead of Ohio State. And so did the panel that selects the Football Four Playoff Projection each week.

For the first time since Baylor began receiving Football Four votes six weeks ago, the Bears edged Ohio State for the third seed in the bracket. Baylor earned 23 voter points to Ohio State's 22 this week. Alabama remains No. 1, as it has all season, with Florida State second.

"As for my increasingly beloved Baylor Bears, it's a sad thing to think about that team not having a crack at the title," said panelist Kyle Tucker of the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Another milestone that occurred in this week's vote was Florida State's point total. The Seminoles earned 51 voter points, the most of any second-place team this season. Florida State's 10-point deficit to Alabama ties Oregon in Week 7 for the closest any team has come to the Crimson Tide.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of stability in this week's projection. With four unbeatens atop the BCS standings, many voters said there was a clear cutoff to construct the four-team bracket. Nine of the 16 voters' projections were unchanged from last week.

"You can argue the order of the four, but these are pretty clearly the semifinalists right now," said panelist Dan Wolken of USA TODAY Sports.

Added panelist Hugh Kellenberger of the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, "Right now it looks fairly cut and dry doesn't it? But for some weird reason I have a feeling chaos is on the way."

One of the sources of that potential chaos is Auburn, which this week became the 16th team to receive votes in the projection this season. Auburn faces No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 30 in the Iron Bowl.

The Playoff Projection is intended to show what the College Football Playoff pairings might be if they were to be set today. It is purely a mock selection with no bearing on any official polls, rankings or standings.

The panel's projections are published each week during the 2013 season, just like the BCS Standings.

Based on the votes of the panel, if the playoff were to be set today, the semifinal pairings would be:

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State

No. 2 Florida State vs. No. 3 Baylor

Four points are awarded for a first-place vote, three points for a No. 2, two for No. 3 and one for a No. 4. Those points are then summed for each team that received a vote. This week's complete results:

Laken Litman, USA TODAY Sports: "I put Auburn in here over Ohio State, Oregon and Clemson not just because of this last weekend's 'Prayer at Jordan-Hare', but due to the fact that through 11 games, the Tigers have made the most impressive turnaround in the country, going from a 3-9 record in 2012 to 10-1 this season, sitting at No. 6 in the BCS standings. Auburn has beaten some of the SEC's best in Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M, as well as Aaron Murray and Georgia, and Alabama could be next."

George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports: "If the season ended today, we'd have a neat, clean four-team playoff. Quibble over the seeding if you'd like, but not which teams are actually invited. But the season doesn't end today. Chaos could still occur. If Auburn beats Alabama, the Tigers would move ahead of Oregon as the best one-loss team -- but would still have to win the SEC championship to get into the playoff."

Dan Shanoff, USA TODAY Sports: "Auburn's win over Georgia wasn't just single-handedly better than anything on Ohio State's resume, but it was universally appreciated enough that it immediately puts Auburn in the middle of the "best four" conversation."

Kyle Tucker, Louisville Courier-Journal: The Seminoles have finally sold me. They're not playing in the SEC, I know, but they are absolutely smashing people and seem to have it all."

No. 13 Michigan State (9-1, 6-0) at Northwestern (4-6, 0-6), 12 p.m. ET, ESPN: The Spartans try to clinch their division against a Northwestern team that has lost all six conference games after starting 4-0.
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No. 5 Oregon (9-1, 6-1) at Arizona (6-4, 3-4), 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC: Stanford's loss gave Oregon the lead in the Pac-12 North and the Ducks square off with an Arizona team that has lost two in a row.
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No. 8 Missouri (9-1, 5-1) at Ole Miss (7-3, 3-3), 7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN: The Tigers have to battle through Ole Miss and Texas A&M in the final two games of the regular season, currently holding a one-game lead in the SEC East.
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No. 17 Wisconsin (8-2, 5-1) at No. 23 Minnesota (8-2, 4-2), 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN: Wisconsin has a chance for an at-large BCS berth and will probably need to win out, facing a Minnesota team that has won its last four.
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No. 22 Arizona State (8-2, 6-1) at No. 14 UCLA (8-2, 5-2), 7 p.m. ET, FOX: The Sun Devils lead the Bruins by one game in the Pac-12 South, and this game may be the division's decisive contest.
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No. 4 Baylor (9-0, 6-0) at No. 9 Oklahoma State (9-1, 6-1), 8 p.m. ET, ABC: In the game that will very likely decide the Big 12, Baylor puts its undefeated season and national title hopes on the line in Stillwater.
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